Title: Look before you don (I know, stupid title, but i couldn't think of anything else that fit)
By: sahsedalia
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Challenge: Clothing challenge
Rating: Um, there's a few bad words and a little bit of boykissing so ...pg-13?
Warning/Spoilers: This takes place before the big office break-up.
Summary: Nick wears an interesting shirt to work and Warrick teases him.

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"Why didn't you tell me, Nick?"

Nick turned around in his chair to face Warrick, who'd just walked into the break room. "Tell you what, man?" he asked, not having a clue what his friend and co-worker was talking about.

"I thought we were friends," Warrick said, side-stepping Nick's question.

"We are," Nick told him as he rose from his seat at the table. "We are, Warrick."

"So why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Nick asked, getting a little flustered.

"You could've trusted me with this, Nick," Warrick said. "I wouldn't have told anyone about it. And the fact that you didn't?" He shook his head sadly. "I guess that proves we aren't as close as I thought."

Oh God, Nick thought. Warrick knows. Warrick knows. How the hell did he find out about me and Greg? We've been so careful! Okay, Nick, don't panic. Maybe you're wrong. Maybe he doesn't know. Maybe he's upset about something else you kept from him. But what? Think, man, think!

He couldn't think of anything. Well, one thing but he'd only told one person about that and he knew Catherine would never betray his secret. So what could it be if it wasn't about him and Greg? Just ask him, he thought. 'Cause if you apologize for not telling him about you and Greg being lovers and then come to find out that Warrick wasn't even talking about that, you'd have let that cat out of the bag way earlier than you're ready for.

"Uh, Warrick, what's this about?" he asked, trying to appear calm when in reality he felt like he was about to pass out.

Warrick scrutinized him for a few agonizingly long seconds before he sighed. "Take off your shirt," Warrick ordered.

"What?!"

"You heard me, Nick. Your shirt, take it off," he said impatiently.

"W-why?" Nick asked, nerves making him stutter. This wasn't going the way he thought it would. There was no longer any doubt in his mind that Warrick knew about Greg's and his relationship and because of that knowledge, Warrick was ...seducing him? It was a nice thought and he'd be lying if he said he hadn't pictured it on more than one occasion but he was with Greg Sanders and they had a pretty good thing going and he couldn't let this thing with Warrick happen and risk screwing that up. Let him down easy, he thought. The guy's still your best friend and you don't want to lose him over this.

"Don't ask why," Warrick told him. "Just take it off."

"Um, look Warrick, I'm really flattered. But I just don't have those kinds of feelings for you so let's just forget this ever happened, okay? We don't even have to bring up again if that'll make you feel better."

"What? No. No. That's not what this is about. I was just ... You were starting to freak out earlier so I decided to take pity on you and stop teasing you. I figured it'd be better if I showed you instead of telling you ...'cause I wouldn't even know where to begin trying to describe it so ...so do what I told you and take it off, Stokes. Right now."

"Am I interrupting something?" a very familiar voice asked from behind them.

Greg. Of course it'd be Greg to walk in on them just as Warrick demanded he strip off his shirt. Things like that always happened to Nick. He always got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and it never mattered that he wasn't stealing the cookies, just making sure they were all still there. He didn't look at his boyfriend as Warrick turned around to face Greg, knowing he'd have a guilty expression on his face, which was stupid because it wasn't like he and Warrick and been making out and groping each other or anything like that.

"Yeah, actually you are," Warrick informed him and then frowned. "Hey, isn't tonight your night off? What are you doing here?"

Greg gave a shrug. "What can I say? I just can't stay away from this place."

Warrick rolled his eyes. "You need a girlfriend, man."

Greg deliberately looked at Nick, who was examining the toes of his shoes as intently as he would a piece of evidence. "So what's up? What's going on here, gentlemen?" he asked as he folded his arms over his chest.

"Nothing much, man," Warrick told him, the lie slipping easily from his lips. "Just the usual work stuff."

Greg pursed his lips. "The usual work stuff, huh? I'm pretty sure I overheard you tell Nicky here to take off his clothes. Unless I'm totally behind on my office gossip, which I never am, that doesn't really appear to be work-related, now does it?"

"It wasn't all of my clothes," Nick corrected. "Just the shirt!"

"Ah. So I overheard you ask him to take off his shirt. Wanna explain that, Warrick?"

"No. There's nothing to explain," he said in a firm tone.

"Look, Greg, it's really not that big of a deal," Nick began, trying to appease his boyfriend.

"It's not any of his business," Warrick said, interrupting Nick before he could finish what he was saying. He looked back at Greg. "Look, Sanders, no offense or anything but we've got work to do, not all of us are off tonight, so if you don't mind ... get lost." Warrick motioned to the break room door.

Oh God, Nick thought, watching a determined look cross Greg's face. Warrick's in for it now. Greg was a pretty easy going guy. Until you managed to piss him off, that is, and then watch out because here comes hurricane Greg.

"Yeah. That's not gonna happen," Greg informed him coolly as he took a few steps in Warrick's direction.

Nick darted forward so that he was between Greg and Warrick. He didn't think the two of them would actually get into a fight or anything but he didn't want to take any chances. "Now Greg, don't get mad. He didn't mean that the way it sounded."

Warrick snorted. "The hell I didn't."

"Look, just let me explain what happened," Nick told Greg.

"You don't have to explain this to him, Nick. It doesn't involve him."

"It does," Nick said quietly, looking at Greg.

"So let's hear it then," Greg said, waving at Nick to proceed.

"Greg, just mind your own bus—"

"Warrick, don't," Nick interrupted quickly.

Warrick gave Nick an exasperated look. "Why are you taking his side? You should be backing me up, man. I'm trying to save you some embarrassment here."

I'm taking his side because if I don't, I'll have a very cranky boyfriend, Nick thought. And everybody knows that cranky boyfriend equals frustration and not-as-satisfying masturbation. And then the last of what Warrick said registered. "Embarrassment about what?" he asked.

"He means the shirt," Greg told him.

Nick looked down at the plain faded black t-shirt he was wearing with his jeans. There were no stains or holes or anything like that on it. So why would he be embarrassed about it?

"Take it off," Warrick ordered.

Not this again. Nick shot a nervous glance at his boyfriend. "Why?"

"Oh for God's sake," Warrick muttered under his breath. He moved forward, grabbed the hem of Nick's shirt with both hands and yanked it up, pulling it over Nick's head. He quickly turned it right side out again before spreading it out front side down on the round table beside them. "See?" he asked.

"What the hell?" Nick breathed as he caught sight of the bright red image and lettering on the back for the first time.

"That is what I was trying to show you earlier," Warrick told him, motioning to the lewd logo and obscene catch phrase printed on the thin fabric. "I first saw it when I spotted you walking down the hall and thought I'd come in here and tease you about it for a while before clueing you in. But you started getting all stressed about it ...or something else I don't know about ...so I told you to take off the shirt so I could show you what was on the back. But then he comes in and hears us and then I was trying to get him to leave before he saw it because I knew if he did, you'd never hear the end of it from him. Well, you know how well that worked out," he muttered, shooting a look at Greg.

"How did I not notice that was on the back?" Nick wondered out loud.

Warrick shrugged. "You must've grabbed it and put it on without really looking at it. The real question is what the hell was that doing in your closet in the first place? Must've been a gag gift or something like that because I can't picture you picking that out yourself."

"God," Nick said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I can't believe I walked through the building with that sign on my back. No wonder a few people were giving me funny looks."

"It must've been the shirt," Greg agreed. And then after a beat, he said, "Or maybe it was your hair."

"My hair?!" Nick's hands immediately went up to cover his head. "What's wrong with my hair?"

"Nothing," Warrick said. Reaching around Nick, Warrick gave Greg's right shoulder a shove, shooting the younger man a glare. "Your hair's fine, Nick. Well, better than Greg's, at any rate," he added.

Nick lowered his hands from his hair, trying not to laugh at the mock-offended look on Greg's face at Warrick's comment. "That's true," he said with a teasing grin, adding fuel to the fire. "You stick your finger in a light socket before you came here, G?"

Giving Nick a look that said he'd pay for that later, Greg told them, "Hey. My hair's cool and you two are just jealous of my style." Ignoring both Warrick's and Nick's scoffs of disagreement, he let his eyes drift down to Nick's tanned, sculpted chest. "Now what are we going to do about this?" he asked, resisting the urge to touch the warm, smooth skin in front of him.

"Can't he just turn his shirt inside out?" Warrick suggested.

Greg shook his head. "The fabric's too thin. It'd still show through."

"Well he can't go to a crime scene half-dressed," Warrick remarked. "And if Gris sees him, he'll have Nick's ass for being so 'unprofessional'."

"I should have a spare shirt in my locker," Nick told them.

"I'll get it for you," Warrick offered.

"Thanks man," Nick called after him as Warrick hurried out of the room and when he was sure his friend was gone, he immediately turned on his lover. "You let me leave the house wearing that shirt?! Do you realize how much trouble I could've gotten into if Grissom had seen me?"

"I'm sooo sorry, baby," Greg told him, moving closer to Nick until only a few inches separated them. "It wasn't until you'd turned around to leave that I saw the back and realized what shirt you'd picked from my closet. I called out to you and tried to catch you before you left but you were already outside and then I had to go back in the bedroom and put on enough clothes to keep Mrs. Thomas, the old lady that lives across from me who's always out at that time to water her plants, from having a coronary before I ran outside, you were already down the road. I tried to call you but I just kept getting directed to your voice mail and I could've let a message but you rarely check them while you're working so I—"

Nick put a finger to Greg's lips to stop his rambling. While his boyfriend was taking a much needed breath, Nick said, "So you came all the way down here, on your night off even, to warn me about it?"

Greg took Nick's finger off his mouth but didn't release Nick's hand. "Of course," he said, giving him a 'duh' look. "I know you want to keep our relationship a secret for now and I knew that if anyone saw you in that shirt they'd immediately think, 'wait a minute, that's not a Nick shirt, that's a Greg shirt' and put two and two together and come up with—"

"Us fucking and you cumming all over my shirt right before I had to go to work?" Nick said with a naughty grin, tightening his fingers around Greg's.

"Well, I was gonna say four but I like your answer better," Greg replied and crossed the few inches separating them to place his lips against Nick's.

"We shouldn't," Nick whispered but didn't pull back. "Warrick'll be back soon."

"It'd be a bad idea to let him catch us making out in here, wouldn't it?" Greg asked, moving down to press a kiss to Nick's smooth jaw.

"Very bad," Nick said and then shuddered when Greg pressed his open mouth against the side of Nick's neck and sucked gently at his skin. "G. We'd better stop. If we don't Warrick'll catch us for sure."

With a reluctant sigh, Greg pulled his mouth off Nick and moved back away from him. "Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if he caught us in here," Greg told him. "Then he'd know you belong to me and would no longer try to get you naked in the break room."

"Am I detecting some jealousy from you?" Nick asked, more pleased at the thought then he should be.

"Jealous? Me? Never."

Nick chuckled. "Sounds that way to me."

"Then you're hearing things," Greg told him. "Because I wasn't jealous."

"Good," Nick said, giving his boyfriend an affectionate look. "Because you don't have to be. You know it wasn't like that. He was just trying to show me the back of the shirt."

"I know, Nick. I'm not jealous of you and Warrick. I'm not worried that he'll try to steal you away from me or something like that."

"He couldn't," Nick assured him. "No one could. I'd never let anyone come between us."

"Well there's that and there's the undeniable fact that Warrick's not gay."

"Maybe not but I'm pretty sure that's what most people think about us," Nick said.

"Well, most 'people' didn't catch Warrick and Catherine getting it on one night in Grissom's office."

"What?" Nick exclaimed.

Greg nodded. "Yep. It was quite a sight, too. Very hot. Lets just say Catherine's stripper days really paid off because she did this backward bend thing that was ..." Greg stopped talking and shook his head to clear the very inappropriate thoughts out of his head. "Anyway, Warrick and Catherine are together ergo Warrick's not gay. Bi maybe, like me, but not gay. Oh, that reminds me. Wanna know Catherine's pet name for Warrick?"

"I should say no," Nick said.

Greg grinned. "But you didn't. You wanna know, don't you?"

"Okay, go ahead and tell me but I have a feeling I'm gonna regret this later."

Greg moved forward and whispered it into Nick's ear.

He couldn't help but shudder in disgust. "Eww. I'm already regretting it. Why'd you have to tell me that, G?"

Greg shrugged. "You asked."

"Found this," Warrick said, re-entering the break room. "Not sure if it's clean or not but it's better than nothing." He tossed the wrinkled, long-sleeved green patterned button-down at Nick, who caught it with one hand. "Ran in to Gris as I was coming back. You and I are working a 419 at the Tangiers tonight. So get dressed and let's go."

"Guess I'll be going then," Greg told them and then looked at his shirt still on the table. He couldn't just leave it here at work. It had been one of his favorite shirts a few years back. He looked at Nick. "Mind if I take this with me?"

"Be my guest," Nick said, playing along as he buttoned up his shirt.

"Thanks." He scooped the t-shirt off the table. "See you guys later," he said, giving Nick a pointed look that said he expected the older man to come back to his apartment after he got off work before he headed out.

"You ready?" Warrick asked Nick.

"Yeah, let's go."

As the two of them were walking down the hallway, Warrick said, "I'm not surprised Sanders took the shirt with him. He's the only person I know that'd wear something like that." Then something clicked in Warrick's mind and he stopped walking. "Wait a minute. He knew. He knew what was on the back of the shirt but you never had your back to him. How did he—"

He didn't want to do it but he was desperate for a diversion and desperate times call for desperate measures. "Hey, we've got a scene to get to. You coming ...pumpkin butt?"

Warrick gave him a startled look. "What did you just say?"

"I said we've got a scene to get to and are you coming, Warrick," Nick told him, struggling to keep a straight face. "Why? What did you think I said?"

"Um ...nothing. Nothing, man. You're right, we've got go or we'll be late. So get the lead out, Stokes," Warrick told him before continuing down the hall.

"Thank you Greg," Nick whispered to the ceiling before he followed his partner.

The end

Hope you liked it. Also, if you wondering what Nick, well Greg's, shirt said, just use your imagination. :)

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